The US philosopher John Rawls (1921-2002) is perhaps best known for his ‘veil of ignorance’ thought experiment, which he first laid out in his landmark work A Theory of Justice (1971). Envisioning a society built by rule-makers who were blind to their own identities, Rawls reasoned that structures that privilege certain classes over others would be unpopular, and a more rational and just society would emerge.
However, as this TED-Ed video illustrates, A Theory of Justice does far more than just describe the thought experiment. Rather, Rawls articulates the policies he believes should emerge from this initial conceit, outlining a democratic government with an economic structure that allows for equal opportunity and, ultimately, only as much inequality as would benefit society’s worst-off members. With stylish visuals, the animation details the ideas and ideals outlined in A Theory of Justice, criticisms of the text raised by prominent thinkers, and the lasting impact of Rawls’s groundbreaking work more than half a century after its initial publication.
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Philosophy of mind
‘Am I not at least something?’ A surreal dive into Descartes’s Meditations
3 minutes
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Meaning and the good life
Why Orwell urged his readers to celebrate the spring, cynics be damned
11 minutes
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Engineering
Can monumental ‘ice stupas’ help remote Himalayan villages survive?
15 minutes
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Fairness and equality
There’s a dirty side to clean energy in the metal-rich mountains of South Africa
10 minutes
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Fairness and equality
‘To my old master’ – a freed slave answers the request to return to his old plantation
7 minutes
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Ethics
Plato saw little value in privacy. How do his ideas hold up in the information age?
5 minutes
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Virtues and vices
Why Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Adam Smith were divided on the virtues of vanity
5 minutes
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Fairness and equality
Visit the small Texas community that lives in the shadow of SpaceX launches
14 minutes
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Political philosophy
The radical activist couple who fought for social change in the courtroom
21 minutes